In a message from Frank Reeves' lawyer, Veronica Brinson said that Reeves and his family are "trying to cope with the incident."

The 73-year-old veteran has been charged with felony murder in connection with the death of 65-year-old Linda Hunnicutt of Jones County, Ga.

Police said Hunnicutt was driving onto the gas pump bay of the central Georgia service station when her Buick Lucerne and Reeves' motorized wheelchair bumped. Hunnicutt stepped out of her vehicle and Reeves pulled a handgun and fatally shot her in the chest, Macon police spokeswoman Jami Gaudet said.

"The whole encounter, I can tell you, was very brief," Gaudet said.

Hunnicutt was shot once in the chest with a .38-caliber revolver and died shortly after the shooting at a local hospital despite the efforts of a crowd of people who tried to help her.

Hunnicutt's family say the Linda Hunnicutt they knew doesn't match reports of the woman who confronted Reeves in his motorized wheel chair.

"Well they just portrayed her as being confrontational and argumentative with this man and I know she wasn't," said Hunnicutt's daughter. "My mother's not that kind of person. She's a godly person and would give anybody anything. She wouldn't hurt anybody. She's just helpful, considerate."

"This is so tragic. It's just beyond words what we're going through right now," said a Hunnicutt family member. "Because if you'd known Linda, like I said, none of this would make sense."

Brinson said Reeves and his family "desire for the Hunnicutt family to be able to grieve in peace."

While Brinson described Reeves as a "disabled veteran with a loving family," she also said that he has some health issues. "In the last couple of years, he has encountered two strokes," Brinson wrote.

Reeves is being held without bond on a murder charge at the Bibb County Jail. Magistrate Judge Jane Reeves said bond may be set at a commitment hearing, which is scheduled in two weeks.

Police are still looking for witnesses who were at the gas station to provide more details about the shooting.